São Paulo – The passenger volume in Dubai International Airport reached 5.08 million passengers in February, growth of 11.4% over the same month in 2012. In January, the terminal had recorded expansion of 14.6% over the same period in 2012. According to a study by Dubai Airports, the company that manages the airport, in the accumulated result for the year, the growth was 13% over 2012. In January and February this year, 10.6 million passengers arrived in Dubai through the airport. In the same period in 2012, there were 9.4 million.
Dubai Airports also said that the average number of passengers transported per aircraft grew 4.4%, from 193 to 201. The company attributed the growth to greater volume of departures and arrivals of the A380, the largest passenger aircraft in the world, which can carry over 450 people. In total, 28,085 aircraft arrived in and departed from the Airport in February, 3.3% more than recorded in February 2012.
Among the regions, Eastern Europe was the one that recorded the greatest passenger growth at Dubai airport. Expansion in February was 29.6%, due to the new routes to Poland and to Macedonia. The Asia-Pacific region recorded growth of 21.8% in passengers, followed by Russia and the Community of Independent States, with expansion of 18.5%, countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), with 16.5% more passengers, and Asia (15%). The Middle East, excluding the GCC, had 1.6% less passengers.
The main destinations and origins continued to present growth in February. The routes connecting Dubai to India expanded 10.8%, those connecting Dubai and the United Kingdom grew 5.2% and the Dubai to Saudi Arabia route grew 42.3%. The volume of passengers to Saudi Arabia grew because Emirates Airline, Flydubai, Nasair and Saudi Arabia Airlines inaugurated new routes in 2012.
The CEO at Dubai Airports, Paul Griffths, stated that the airport continues recording a passenger throughput above that forecasted for the end of the year, which was 65.4 million. He also said that the terminal is on the right route, by expanding capacity to supply demand.
Agreement
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) approved this week a global partnership between Emirates, the airline of Dubai, and the Australian Qantas, according to newspaper The National, from Abu Dhabi. The agreement between both organisations forecasts collaboration for five years and transfer of the Qantas hub from Singapore to Dubai. Final approval by the government of Australia comes little before the first flight within the new cooperation regime, from Sydney to London, stopping in Dubai, on March 31st.
The agreement, says the newspaper, is considered fundamental for Qantas sustainability, since, last year, the group posted its first loss since privatisation, in 1995, mainly due to local competition and high fuel prices. The agreement grants Qantas greater ease in its flights, which will no longer need to have a European city as their end destination, and will allow Emirates access to the routes served by Qantas in Australia: some 50 destinations.
*Translated by Mark Ament
